Principal’s Comments

Now with all students K-12 having started school for the year I can genuinely say that staff and students have made a wonderful beginning to what I am sure will be an enjoyable and successful year.

You will see from some of the items included in this newsletter that a lot of things are happening - many of them new. You can read more about that in other sections of this newsletter. While there may be new people, new policies and new processes, the heart of this community remains the same - to see the unique potential in every person and to find opportunities for that to be developed.

During the first weeks of school I have had the opportunity of sharing in different ways and with different groups what I am hoping for on behalf of the school and what I will be working with each of the staff and parents to bring to fruition.

For me that has been focussed on the school’s Vision - to build a Biblical foundation in the lives of every student; encouraging every student to find a personal relationship with Christ; helping every student become a success in whatever God has for them.

A major theme of my comments with the staff and students have been about intentionally thinking about the culture of our school, our classrooms, our friendship groups and about every person’s influence through the decisions that they make.

The Bible has a lot to say about the power of individuals making decisions to act in ways that share God’s goodness with those around them. It is full of words that encourage Christians to show their faith through the actions in their lives together.

This is shown very clearly Colossians 3 where Paul encourages the Christians in that church to be intentional in living lives that show compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; forgiving one another and being bound together in relationships of love. Col. 3:12-14

We have shared together the opportunity that a new year brings for making decisions that are good and honourable and helpful. In doing so I have indicated that some of our key annual priorities for improvement in our culture include developing a culture of:

communication - being careful and credible in communicating with others the information they need to know and about things that they need to be aware of.

consistency - ensuring that there is consistency between what we say and what we do and in the high standards that are expected of every person.

coherence - aligning all the different programs across the school to our common goal of working out our vision.

I am looking forward to celebrating with you throughout the year the many examples that I know we will share of living these principles out together and the many examples of students’ success that I am sure the year holds.

Please consider attending one of our Parent Connect events so that I have the chance of meeting each of you in person, or contact reception to arrange a time when you could come and have a coffee and a chat.

2018 Whole School Information

New Principal

A series of special events are being organised to give you opportunity to come and meet Mr Brendan Corr as he takes on the role as Principal of ACC MP. The schedule of these will include events held during the day and the early evening to accommodate the varying commitments of all families. Please watch the calendar and our communication channels for details of these.

New Communication Channels

Communication is a vital element of any relationship., and especially so in the relationship between a school and its families. As a community of staff we have set communication as one of the key priorities for the year. We are working to improve the technical and system issues that are needed for good reliable communication and are exploring making greater use of other modes and forms of communication.

This will include increased use of our social media accounts to inform the community of news and of upcoming events. If you have not yet, please ensure you are following the school’s Facebook page. You might even think to give us a “Like”.

Another initiative in communication will be greater use of video. This eNews has the first of our “Take2” videos. These are 2 min snapshots of life in Primary and Secondary departments over the preceding 2 weeks. We hope you enjoy them.

New Spaces:

As you visit the school you may not realise that several major projects have been completed or are close to completion.

To further support the school’s delivery of quality learning the Food Technology Learning Space is being fully re-developed so that it better aligns with the Technology Space that was completed last year.

A new Learning Space has been created in the D Block that allows for senior students to work productively and under teacher supervision as they undertake self directed study or external courses. This space will also be available for other classes to use for presentations and flexible learning.

The area in front of the MPC has been fitted out with artificial lawn under the tables. Not only will this allow the area to look good all year round and to stand up to the constant use it receives, it also improves the safety of the area for all students.

New Roles

2018 has allowed the school to create a new portfolio directed specifically to supporting students in their growth as young people. The school is delighted to be able to continue to enjoy the blessing of Mrs Kwok’s experience and expertise in this area and her long standing relationship with so many families as she develops this role and helps the school provide service to the students as Head of Student Services. This role will include her working positively with students in their social-emotional and spiritual growth as well as her coordinating the schools learning support services.

New Systems

Over the New Year the school has rolled over to a new Information Management System. The new system positions us for improving our record management and our communications processes. We have found that the transfer of data between our old and new records has not been without some issue and we ask for your patient understanding as we work hard and fast to make sure that our records are accurate and up-to-date. Later in the year we look forward to sharing with you some of the benefits that our new Sentral System will bring to parents.

New Initiatives

A major initiative commencing throughout the school this year is the development of a revised ACC MP Learner Profile. A learner profile is used by many schools to capture some of the key capabilities and characteristics that the school considers is of value and that it intends developing in its students. The teaching staff have worked collaboratively to develop a framework of characteristics that we all agree are the key attributes of the type of person our school is committed to forming. The ACC MP Learner Profile is grounded in our biblical understanding and interpretation of some of the recent research into the development of children and young people’s character and capacities that lead to them thriving across all areas of life. It identifies 6 Core Attributes each expressed in 2 areas.

Positivity

positive attitudes

positive actions

Engaged

engaged with our curriculum

engaged with our community

Respect

respecting others

respecting opportunities

Responsible

responsible in your roles

responsible in our rules

Kindness

kindness expressed to others

kindness experienced from

Service

a service mindset

a service skill-set

This PERRKS profile will form the scaffold for all of our programs that are intentionally shaping the beliefs, values, and behaviour of our students

Information from Busways

Additional Morning bus from Riverstone Station

On Monday 28th February 2018, School Bus 6013 will begin to operate to Australian Christian College as an additional service from Riverstone Station to the school.

This bus will depart from Riverstone Station at 8:02am and operate via (R) Garfield Rd West

School zones are very busy and often congested areas during the periods of drop off in the morning and pick-up in the afternoon. Can we ask that you observe the reduced speed limits during those times, avoid parking in spaces that may make it difficult for our Buses or for our neighbours; and to respect any instructions that staff who are on duty may give. Our common goal is to make all our children safe during these busy periods of the day.

Contacting the School

In 2018 we are refining our Care structure that supports students. This means that from K-12 every student now has a Home Room Teacher who is taking responsibility for the welfare and learning of the students in that class.

In Years K-6, all enquiries should in the first instance be directed to the class teacher, who will do all that they can to answer any question you may have or to resolve any issue. For other matters, Ms Jessica Hickson is the Primary Team leader

In Secondary School, welfare related issues should also be passed to the Home Room Teacher. Matters related to a specific subject should be directed to the subject teacher. Other matters may be directed to Mr Peter Bromhead, Head of Senior School.

Should you require assistance with any matter related to support for our child, please feel free to contact Mrs Kwok in her role as Head of Student Services.

BYOD

ACC MP is intent on providing the best learning opportunities for all students. This has meant that we have taken the decision to a BYOD community. Our BYOD - Bring Your Own Device - program requires that all students bring a computer or tablet device as a tool for their learning. All of our teachers are regularly updating their planned activities to include relevant and meaningful ICT activities that extend students learning of a concept, theme or topic in the subject areas. In addition, our staff actively teach our students how to exercise good judgement about accessing the “online world’ - from recognising what is reliable information and what it “fake news” to the proper way to interact and communicate with others in that space. For these reasons it is essential that all students are able to bring to school a device for online learning.

Secondary Curriculum - Assessment Calendars

We understand tracking assessment tasks for Year 7-12 students can be a challenge. These big tasks, listed in the Student Assessment Schedule, will often be completed over a number of weeks and involve strict deadlines. In order to help you in supporting your child, we have setup a Google Assessment Calendar for each year group. These calendars will contain the published assessment task for each year group and course, and is updated one term in advance.

Please subscribe to this google calendar so you can help your child complete their assessment tasks on time and without undue stress. Once you have added your child’s calendar via a desktop computer, it will be accessible on any device via your google account.